


Christmas Waltz

by a_windsor



Series: Thing!verse [37]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 11:18:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_windsor/pseuds/a_windsor
Summary: "Merry Christmas, may your new year's dreams come true. And this song of mine, in three quarter time, wishes you and yours, the same thing, too." Christmas 2031





	Christmas Waltz

_Christmas Waltz_ **\- Christmas 2031**

 

“Altman! Torres! Let’s go,” Mark Sloan calls towards the bathroom in the attendings lounge, adjusting his tie in his locker mirror. The tie, last year’s Christmas present from Susie, has a tasteful amount of holiday cheer, holly leaves and red berries. His companions are rushing through their last minute make-up applications, but they don’t have time for this primping.

Owen Hunt rushes through the door, tie askew.

“Oh good. You’re still here. Mind if I tag along?”

“Of course not,” Callie smiles, grabbing her coat from her locker. “Plenty of room in the pew.”

“We have seven o’clock reservations we can easily add two to if Yang wants to meet us afterwards,” Teddy offers as Owen gentlemanly holds the door open for all of them.

Mark checks his watch (last year’s present from Lexie) for the tenth time. They may have to speed a little, but they should make it on time.

 

***

 

The organ music has already begun as the four sheepish surgeons sneak into the back of the church. Their families, of course, have already expected as much, and have saved the last two rows of pews for them. The back row is occupied by Lexie, Arizona, and Matt. The one in front of them is empty except for a collection of winter coats, for now at least.

Mark never saw himself as the church kind of guy, but Lexie grew up going every Sunday with her mother, and he finds he’s come to enjoy the comfort of the repetition. He slides into the pew behind Callie, who makes a beeline for her wife at the other end of the row. He pauses to shake Matt Tate’s hand in greeting and then squeezes next to Lexie, leaning over to kiss her cheek hello.

“Everybody ready?” he questions at a whisper, interrupting her rendition of “O come all ye faithful”.

Lexie nods with a slight eye roll, gesturing back towards the side door that leads towards the parish hall.

Mark grins in anticipation.

 

***

 

A hush falls over the sanctuary, but it’s quickly broken up by the emphatic whispers coming from the back. There’s a surge of scuffling and the occasional “Mommy!” and then attention is pulled forward to the pulpit and the lectionary. Sixteen-year-old Lena Robbins-Torres and fifteen-year-old Grey Sloan take their places as narrators. Lena has on a pretty red dress with a white cardigan, her pale blonde curls tamed with a curling iron and a fair amount of hairspray. Grey is wearing his pressed khakis and navy sport coat, crisp white shirt and deep red bowtie, brown hair swept to the side.

Lena takes a deep breath and flashes a pure Robbins dimpled smile before starting:

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, called Nazareth.”

Trading paragraphs with ease bred of a lifelong, inseparable friendship and a few mornings on the way to school practicing over and over, Lena and Grey tell of Mary, Joseph, and their visit from the angel Gabriel.

Twelve-year-old Caroline Robbins-Torres appears in front of the altar as Mary, like Lena two years before. Having already undergone a Torres growth spurt, she towers over poor little Johnny Wu, who plays her Joseph. Her best friend Susanna Sloan, twelve as well, emerges from behind the narrators. She’s the angel Gabriel, complete with wings and a tilted halo perched on her dirty blonde braids.

Caroline and Susie try their very best to maintain their composure, but they each grin a little every time their eyes meet. Lena and Grey continue on to the trip to Bethlehem, and the whole congregation breaks into “O little town of Bethlehem” as Caroline and Johnny walk all the way down one side aisle and then back up the center aisle, this time with one of the little kindergarteners dressed as a donkey walking beside them.

Their trip to the back briefly draws everyone’s attention to Asa Robbins-Torres, wrangling the miniature angels, shepherds, and sheep, trying to get them ready for their cues. The narrators continue to tell of angels appearing to shepherds and the ever-hilarious stampede of elementary schoolers in worn costumes passes with warm laughter from the entire congregation. Heartfelt renditions of “Hark, the herald angels sing” accompany the arrival.

Grey and Lena then narrate the arrival of the kings. Frankincense and Myrrh are played with aplomb by nine-year-olds Mateo Robbins-Torres and Nicholas Altman-Tate, in full regalia. They arrive to visit Caroline, Johnny, and the newest newborn of congregation as Baby Jesus (a role also once played by Asa, Lena, and Grey, all fall babies). Teo and Nicky also can’t stop grinning and nudging each other throughout their entire part.

Once the annual pageant is over, the children hurry back to their parents. They scramble into the empty row but turn around to accept the hugs, kisses, and praise from their parents behind them. They all mix in together and sit, relatively well behaved, for the rest of the service. The presents sitting at home under the tree certainly help keep them in line.

 

***

 

“My favorite was the Christmas octopus!” Arizona exclaims around their Christmas Eve dinner table. All fifteen of them crowd at a long, long table in one of the nicer restaurants in Seattle. “Was that Reina Watson?”

“She absolutely _refused_ to be a sheep, and she was an octopus for Halloween, so... Y’know, all the animals were there to celebrate Baby Jesus,” Asa shakes his head, amused.

“I think you’re getting that mixed up with Noah,” Cristina Yang counters. At the shocked looks around the table, she counters, “Hey! That one’s in my book.”

“Baby Jesus was so well behaved,” Lexie comments.

“Best one since Baby Blondie,” Mark laughs.

“Hey!” Grey objects, choking on his water.

“You cried the whole time!” Callie exclaims, earning a disgruntled look from her godson.

“Lena was two-weeks-old,” Grey pouts, even as Lena playfully elbows him. “She wasn’t aware enough to be cranky.”

“She _was_ young,” Arizona muses, turning to her wife. “What were we thinking, letting a twelve-year-old cart around our newborn as a prop?”

“We were sleep-deprived,” Callie shrugs and then mocks, “’Here, please, someone else hold the baby.’”

“You did an excellent job directing, Asa,” Owen praises with a clap on the teenager’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I don’t know how you handle all that crazy,” Teddy’s husband Matt notes.

“Uncle Matt, you teach seventh grade. It _has_ to be worse,” Asa grins.

“No, no. Elementary is definitely worse.”

Over at the younger end of the table, Caroline, Susie, Nicky, and Teo are discussing some sort of gossip or the other. Probably something about poor little Johnny Wu’s painfully obvious crush on Caroline, or some sisterly teasing about all the girls that crowd around those two handsome little boys.

“Tiny Dancer, do up your tie,” Caroline mothers, fussing with her little brother’s collar.

Teo rolls his eyes and haphazardly tightens his Santa tie.

“Cari, déjalo. Tu hermanito está bien.” [“Cari, leave it. Your brother is fine.”]

“It’s Christmas Eve dinner; he can’t look like a hooligan, Mami,” Caroline complains.

“That’s your doing,” Callie levels at Arizona across the table, with a fork pointed to underscore her point.

Taking a sip of her wine, Arizona accepts the accusation with a shrug and raised eyebrows. “I completely agree with her. No hooligans on Christmas.”

 

***

 

“Can we open one? Please, please, please,” Teo begs as the six Robbins-Torres family members spill out of the garage and back into the house.

“Teo, we go over this every year. We always open one.”

“One that’s _not_ pajamas, Momma,” Teo sighs, tugging his tie loose and rolling it up. He shoves it in the pocket of his navy blazer and plops onto the couch in the living room.

Asa unconsciously mirrors his younger brother’s actions as Lena strips off her low heels and Caroline leans sleepily against her mami. Callie slips an arm around Caroline’s shoulders and pulls her close.

“Sorry, no dice. Christmas Eve is pj night,” Arizona stands firm, scruffing his fuzzy little head from the other side of the couch. “No more presents until Santa comes.”

“But Momma... That’s so far away.”

“I know. Let’s get our pjs and go to bed, so Santa will come super quick! Wanna be the elf and go grab them from under the tree?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Teo yawns, pulling himself up as the rest of his family collapses onto the two couches.

“Who picked them out this year?” Lena asks, cross-legged on the couch, dress hiked up. She cleans up nicely, but she’s still a little tomboy at heart, and they’ve never had any room for modesty in the comfort of their own home. Teo tosses one wrapped package to her, and she catches it with ease.

“Mami did.”

“Oh thank god,” Caroline laughs, earning a glare from her momma as she grabs her flying present out of the air and sits down between her older brother and sister.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means when it’s your turn to pick them out, we all end up in cartoon characters,” Asa explains, as gently as possible, catching his own gift.

“I like cartoon characters,” Teo speaks up, handing the remaining presents out to his moms more gently, walking over to their couch.

“Thank you, Tiny Dancer,” Arizona smiles, grabbing her youngest around the waist and pulling him into her lap. Teo’s always been a snuggle bunny, and she’s amazed at how much he still lets her cuddle him, especially when he’s sleepy.

“Yeah, well, Teo’s nine,” Asa points out.

“And a half!”

“And a half,” Asa confirms. “We’re all teenagers.” He looks to Caroline. “Almost.”

“Two months,” the younger girl complains.

“Don’t remind me,” Callie groans. “I picked them out; no cartoon characters. But they do all sort of match. There’s a theme.”

“Can we open them, Mami? Por favor,” Teo asks, fingers idly picking at the loose edges of the wrapping paper.

“Tear ‘em up.”

The kids are all appropriately (if obligatorily) thankful for their Christmas pjs, even if Asa rolls his eyes at the candy canes on his pants. The girls have matching sets with peppermint themes, but in a soft cotton blend. Teo’s are the full-on flannel, with candy cane stripes around his whole body, turning him into their own little candy cane. He immediately strips down to his Rudolph briefs and pulls them on with a grin.

“Me gustan, Mami,” [“I like them,”] he says earnestly, plopping a wet kiss on Callie’s cheek. He pulls away and puts his hands on his slim hips. “I’m a candy cane!”

“That you are, m’ijo. Now go cepillarse los dientes [brush your teeth]. Santa’s getting anxious to come drop off your presents, but he can’t do it while you’re still up.”

As a nine-year-old who is the youngest of four, they’re all pretty sure Teo knows the truth about Santa Claus. They intend to keep up the act until he says otherwise, though.

“Will you and Momma tuck me in?”

“Of course. Hurry, hurry. We’ll be right up.”

Teo sprints up the stairs, two at a time. His older siblings take their time, gathering their pjs and shoes and purses.

“Are all your presents under the tree?” Arizona asks the trio.

“Lena’s are the ones that look like a professional did them,” Asa nods. “Mine are all in bags.”

“Mine are just normal,” Caroline shrugs.

“Your OCDish tendencies are a little scary, Leni,” Callie says.

“They’re beautiful; don’t complain,” Lena defends with a shrug, leaning in to kiss both of her mothers. “Merry Christmas Eve.”

“Bedtime for the older elves too?” Arizona questions, kissing them each in turn.

“We’re gonna put our pjs on and watch a movie in Lena’s room,” Caroline informs. “We’ll be quiet so Tiny Dancer doesn’t wake up.”

Caroline looks mighty impressed with herself to finally be invited to a little ritual her siblings invented when Lena was twelve. Callie and Arizona can’t help but encourage it, since it includes the kids bonding of their own accord. Plus, they’re too old to be sent to bed when Teo is, but it keeps them out of their parents’ hair while they prepare Christmas. The deal is that they can stay up as late as they want as long as they stay upstairs. And get up when their ecstatic little brother bounces on them at six am.

“You guys did great tonight with the pageant,” Callie calls after them as they head up the stairs. “Caroline, excellent work not dropping the baby.”

Cari grins at the teasing praise.

“Lena, you did very well. And it’s a Christmas miracle that we don’t have to hear you practice your lines anymore,” Arizona teases.

“And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be counted...” Lena recites with a twinkle in her eye. “And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.”

“I gotta say, Len’, you really nailed the pronunciation on that one,” Asa praises.

“Thanks!”

“And Asa, the whole thing was pulled off beautifully. Only one wandering sheep!”

“And one Christmas octopus,” Asa acknowledges. “Goodnight. Love you.”

“Love you all too. If that hermanito suyo [little brother of yours] is still running around, shuffle him off to bed; we’ll be right up.”

 

***

 

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” Callie whispers warmly in Arizona’s ear, coming up behind her wife as she stands, hands on her hips, surveying the obnoxious amounts of presents arranged and organized under the Christmas tree, all six stockings stretched across the mantel. Callie slides her hands around her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder.

“Ha. It’s 10:30. I can promise you that those three are still awake,” Arizona responds, covering Callie’s hands with her own.

“All snuggled up like puppies. An actual Christmas miracle,” Callie sighs. “Do you think we could sneak a picture for future blackmail?”

“Ooh, rehearsal dinner slideshow!”

“When Asa finally makes it official with Katie Shepherd?”

“Oh god, I think Derek would die,” Arizona laughs.

Asa and Katie have become their own little ‘will they-won’t they’ couple with tons of teenage angst. His moms find it best not to get involved; Asa keeps swearing that Katie is not his girlfriend (despite their close friendship) but, as Lena says, “Why the hell not?”

“They’re going to be up super late tonight,” Arizona says more seriously. “It’s his last Christmas living at home.”

Callie’s heart constricts just talking about the departure of their (hopefully) USNA-bound eldest son. They should receive news of his appointment in the early spring, and while she’s really excited for him, she’s not exactly looking forward to his leaving. It’s like it pops the bubble of their perfect little world. Lena will be two years behind him, then Caroline and Teo at three each. And yes, she knows that means eight whole years until they’re actual empty nesters, she’s not quite ready for any of her baby birds to fly away.

“He’ll come home for Christmas. At least through the academy.”

“Not the same,” Arizona pouts. “And then he’ll be stationed far away and we’ll never see him.”

“I don’t wanna think about it,” Callie deflects, dropping a kiss to Arizona’s neck. “Are we all set up here?”

Arizona nods.

“Let’s go to bed. We’ve got a few traditions of our own to honor, but I’m not sure I can handle under the Christmas tree anymore.”

Arizona laughs. “There’s no room for ravaging under the tree! And there hasn’t been for years.”

“Yeah, let’s go with that and not mention that we’re getting kinda old.”

“Do you remember Asa’s first Christmas? When we were still in the apartment?”

“And we did Christmas early?” Callie laughs.

“That, too. Can you imagine the uprising if we tried that now?”

“Lena whining about honoring traditions at the proper time and place. Teo insisting that we have real Christmas, too.”

“Caroline rolling her eyes. Asa stressing about changing all the logistics,” Arizona grins.

“We’ve raised some pretty neurotic kids.”

“Adorably neurotic. Endearingly neurotic,” Arizona counters.

“Like their Momma.”

“Hey now.”

“C’mon, old lady. Tiny Dancer will be up before we know it.”

 

***

 

It’s not Teo’s bouncing that wakes them up; it’s Asa’s more gentle knocking on the door.

“Good morning. Merry Christmas. Mateo would like to know if Santa came.”

Callie rolls over. 6:30. They must’ve distracted him for a while. Her older children are saints.

“Wake up,” Callie pokes at Arizona’s ribs, getting a disgruntled mumbling in response. “We have to check to see if Santa came so that the munchkins can come downstairs.”

“Tell him Santa didn’t come. He’s not coming until lunchtime. Go back to sleep,” Arizona calls grouchily.

Asa laughs on the other side of the door, poking his head in. “Yeah, right. C’mon, Momma. It’s Christmas! Your favorite!”

Arizona peeks her eyes open to see her son looking at her with an earnest smile, not unlike the one her usually grumpy wife is flashing her. They’re both filled with Christmas morning excitement, and it’s contagious. Especially when Asa’s standing there in his candy cane pants and little boy sleepiness, reminding her of the eighteen (or, well, sixteen) Christmases where he’s stood exactly like that, waiting for her approval so he can tear into his presents.

“Okay, okay. Go tell him we’ll check. But you all have to wait at the top of the stairs until we say so.”

“We know the drill,” Asa grins, ducking out to alert his siblings.

“Why are you so grumpy about Christmas?” Callie questions, even as she’s hauling herself out of bed and throwing on her robe.

“This ‘old lady’ needs her sleep, and someone kept me up last night.”

Callie laughs. “Oh-kay.”

They start the coffee pot percolating and the cinnamon buns in the oven before making their way to the bottom of the stairs. They look up to see all four of their wonderful children waiting at the top of the steps, some more anxiously than others.

Lena and Teo are the most obviously eager. He sits in her lap, head on her shoulder, long legs dangling off her knees, as both practically bounce in anticipation. He has her flashing, light up Rudolph nose on, and she’s donned her fluffy Santa hat for the occasion, hiding the unruliness of her bedhead. Asa is a step above them, leaning his hip against the banister, arms crossed over his broad chest. Caroline sits next to him, leaning her head against the wall, eyes shut and fighting back a yawn.

Their more spirited children visibly brighten when they notice their mothers.

“Did he come?” Teo asks.

“Yeah. Did he come, did he come?” Lena repeats, half-facetiously.

“Oh, I don’t know. Momma, did you notice if Santa paid a visit?”

“There might’ve been a couple presents under that tree, but I’m not sure. Was everyone good this year?”

“I was!” Teo exclaims.

“Me too!” Lena echoes his tone.

“Yeah, Lena went all of November and December without being caught making out in the parking lot at school,” Asa teases.

Lena blushes a little and hides her face behind her little brother’s shoulder, but grins like she’s more than a little pleased with herself.

“It’s not Lena’s fault all the girls wanna kiss her,” Teo repeats his big sister’s usual defense.

“Yeah, what he said,” Lena pipes up. “Teo and I can’t help being irresistible.”

Teo laughs, Caroline opens her eyes enough to give a pre-teen eye roll, and Asa scruffs Lena’s hat, pushing it into her eyes.

“I’m not even going to acknowledge that,” Arizona shakes her head. “But yes, Santa came. You can come down!”

Even Caroline manages a smile at that as Asa helps her to her feet and the four hurry down the stairs. The rest of the morning is a flurry of torn paper and excited squeals as they all discover their gifts. After breakfast and unwrapping the little things stuffed in their embroidered stockings, they all naturally gravitate to their favorite gifts.

Lena excitedly juggles the new soccer ball she’s been begging for; it’s somehow specially engineered to be perfect, but to everyone else’s untrained eye, it just looks like a normal ball with a fancy design. She’s in the corner of the living room, easily bouncing it off of various body parts with a grace that’s always surprised her mothers.

For Teo, it’s the new music player that clips to his shirt, barely visible and with more space than anyone could ever fill. Pairing it with his new wireless headphones, he blares all his favorite songs and dances around the kitchen to a beat only he can hear, grabbing whichever family member he gets closest to for a few bars before dancing away.

Asa has a stack of books he’s been strongly hinting at for months; he still prefers the hard copies, though he has a million e-books too. He’s propped up at the breakfast bar, perfectly still among the chaos, contented smile on his face as his fingers linger on the smooth pages every time he flips one.

Caroline dominates the living room because she got the video game that she was _not_ allowed to stand in line for hours for and was devastated when it sold out before she could get her hands on a copy. Unbeknownst to her, her momma was _not_ called into the hospital and was in fact standing in that line at five o’clock in the morning in the late Seattle December to get Caroline that “damn game”. Her squeals had been the loudest that morning, and she still hugs her momma with abandon every time she wanders by.

Callie busies herself with preparing their big Christmas dinner (Asa, Lena, and Caroline will help as it gets closer; the turkey’s a one-person job, and Arizona and Teo are banned from the kitchen) and Arizona cleans up the detritus of unwrapping, because their favorite gifts aren’t the kind they can play with. The tradition in the Robbins-Torres household has been that the kids all band together to get their moms’ presents, and the other mom isn’t allowed to help. That generally means that Asa and Lena do the heavy lifting in planning and buying, and the grandparents usually foot the bill.

This year the munchkins have outdone themselves. They conspired to arrange a series of beautiful black and white professional pictures of the four of them. The pictures are amazing, wonderfully lit, both candid and posed, with both individual and group shots for their mothers to pick from. They also bought their moms matching bracelets with their four birthstones: sapphire, tanzanite, amethyst, and diamond. Their kids are, in Bailey’s words, “obnoxiously cute”.

Callie catches Teo as he dances around the corner, popping one of his earphones out of his ear and depositing it into her own so that she can dance around with him. He grins widely and takes her hand, letting her lead him around the kitchen, his sock-clad feet slip-sliding as he follows her moves. They dance over to Asa and grab him off his stool.

“I can’t hear,” he laughs as he tries to keep up.

Teo grins and switches off his music player. He holds up a finger: “One second!”

He runs to the stereo system (just barely avoiding crashing into it) and presses a few buttons. The sound leaps to life with the Christmas playlist that’s been on repeat for the past three weeks. On his way back to the kitchen, he steals the controller out of Caroline’s hands and the ball right off of Lena’s knee, pulling them back to the kitchen with him. Since both hands are occupied with his sisters, he calls over his shoulder:

“C’mon, Momma!”

“Yeah, Momma,” Callie grins at her as Asa sweeps her up for a dance. “Enjoy the Christmas music while you can. It’s your last chance.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Arizona sets aside the trash bag and heads for the kitchen dance party. “But Asa stole my girl. Gonna have to find another.”

Caroline’s the closest, so she grabs her and spins her about to “All I Want for Christmas”.

Lena bows theatrically to Teo, who bows right back and extends his hand. The two hams in the family then bounce around excitedly in time to the music, their own little goofy dance moves thrown in. Arizona thinks that if all those girls who like so much to make out with Lena in parking lots could see the pig-tailed, peppermint-pj-clad dork right now, it might not be such a problem. Still hopelessly in love with her own pig-tailed, pj-clad, goofy-dancing dork, Callie thinks just the opposite.

“Are you gonna miss all us goofs when you’re gone, m’ijo?” Callie asks as Asa playfully and expertly dips her.

“Mami, basta,” Asa complains, kissing her cheek. “Todavía estoy. [I’m still here.] I’ve got at least six months before I go anywhere.”

“Ya sé. [I know.] Sorry.”

Asa shakes his head warmly and spins her again.

“Momma, you wanna go two-player before dinner?” Caroline asks Arizona, just a little breathless from their dancing. “I’ll teach you.”

Arizona recognizes a Christmas miracle when she spots one from her preteen. She laughs and draws her into a brief hug, brushing straight, dark hair behind Caroline’s ear.

“I’d love that, Cari.”

“Cool. I think you’ll be pretty good at it.”

Caroline pulls away and pushes up on her toes so that she’s tall enough to spin her momma.

The music shifts into Sinatra’s “Christmas Waltz”.

“Alright, Tiny Dancer,” Lena grins. “This is one dance _I_ can teach _you_.”

Teo puts his growing puppy feet on top of Lena’s and holds her at the hip as she leads them into a surprisingly fluid waltz. He grins as they both sing warmly:

_“Merry Christmas, may your new year’s dreams come true. And this song of mine, in three quarter time, wishes you and yours, the same thing, too.”_

_***_

el fin


End file.
